Another Glucose Test

Just the sight of this picture is making my
stomach turn, eww!

I'd love to say that I took advantage of my day off today by sleeping in, but of course not. I was wide awake this morning at 6am, so I decided to go in early for my Glucose Tolerance Test. The lab is open 6am-6pm on weekdays, and I was planning on sleeping in a little bit and going in whenever I woke up, but of course this morning I was up before the sun. I figured I'd beat the crowd (if there is one at a hospital lab) and just go get it over with. I arrived at the hospital around 6:30, got registered/checked in and had my first fasting blood draw around 6:50am. My blood sugar was 109 (good!) and then I had to drink the lovely glucose drink...this time it was lemon lime flavored -- tasted the same as the others: nasty!

I decided to wear a mask while sitting
in the waiting room for two hours. I
definitely got some weird looks, and no
one sat by me, but I was being cautious.
I was not taking a chance at catching
this nasty flu going around!

This time I was smart, for my two hour wait, I brought a bunch of laminated stuff for work that needed to be cut out. The people in the waiting room probably thought I was crazy, but at least I was getting some work done! Around 8:45, I took my own blood sugar (because I wouldn't get the results from theirs) and it was 137, which I believe is good. So unless it spiked or dramatically dropped over the next ten minutes, this test was more normal than the one I had in November. The fasting sugar was a little high, they like it to be under 100, but at least the two hour was not as high as it was before. I'll be going in this afternoon or after work tomorrow to get a copy of the results to bring with me to my Endocriologist and CF appointments on Thursday. I'm interested to see the Endo's take on the results of this test compared to the last one, plus with the results of my sugars that I've been recording for the past couple weeks. Stay tuned :)

Positive Throughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm going to compile a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life, or anywhere in the world.

• Saturday was in the mid-50s and it was awesome! Tim and I went outside and played catch in the backyard, opened the windows and enjoyed the spring-like temperatures. :-)
• One more week til my CF clinic and Endocrinologist appointment in Chicago. I'm looking forward to talking with my doctor after not seeing her for six months. I'm also looking forward to getting more answers on if I'm diabetic or not.
• I'm lucky to have a day off on Monday so I can get a repeat Glucose Test without having to miss a day of work.
• My students are hilarious and I missed them. They may be testing my patience a little bit this week, but I'm so happy to be back at work.
• I'm going to Country Thunder this summer and super excited!!! 
• I'm currently listening to this song and I love it!

CFRD Follow Up

1/3/13 - See this post for the first part of the story

I had an appointment with an Endocrinologist today at a clinic closer to home. I thought it would be a good idea to get the opinion of someone a little closer (45 minutes away instead of 4 hours away where my CF clinic is). Well, the problem with that is their specialty is diabetes, not CF related diabetes...
I was a little frustrated because the first doctor couldn't find my latest Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) results, which made me think she had no idea about me before even coming in. Then while she was searching the computer for the results, she asked me if I had any medical problems...uh yeah...which then confirmed that she knew nothing about me before coming into the room -- that just annoyed me. Anyway, she said that my A1c - don't know what it stands for, but I know its about your blood glucose - was 5.5. I was always under the impression that I wanted to keep that under 6, so I felt that was good news. When I asked the doctor about this, she said that the "normal range" is somewhere between 4.8 - 5.2 or something like that, so mine was slightly elevated which means I'm "pre-diabetic". Okay, great, no diabetes - wrong. Then she said that since my fasting blood sugar was 219 last time, and its supposed to be between 140-160, that means that I'm diabetic.

So, I'm under the impression that I'm just borderline diabetic?? They weren't very clear.

Either way, the first doctor wanted to do a physical exam (check neck, stomach, listen to my lungs, etc) and was surprised by my stomach scars and made a comment about my clubbing. I don't think she's ever dealt with a CF patient before... She told me that they'll probably start me on Metformin to help regulate everything and have me start checking my blood sugars at home. When I told her that I already talked to my CF doctor and she told me Metformin usually doesn't work for CF patients, the Endo pretty much ignored me and said that we'll try it anyway. She said, "Well you take oral antibiotics and those work? So we'll just give this a try." I just smiled and nodded.
I'm not trying to be rude, but I just don't like being seen by people who have no idea about CF or CFRD. This is something completely new to me and I just wish they had some CF background! 

Try and get that ridiculous song
out of your head now! :)

She then left and came back with another Endo who basically said the same thing. Since my 2 hour fasting blood sugar was so high, I'm considered diabetic. He would like me to get retested (good! - not sarcastic) to make sure this wasn't just one abnormal test, but he did say that the next test will probably come back abnormal, too. So, while I'm waiting to get my next GTT, I have to check my blood sugars twice a day, everyday. The nurse then came in with my new medical equipment, which you may recognize: Accu Chek Nano. The nurse did an awesome job showing me how to use my new friend and told me that she liked this one much better than another one she showed me because "its sexier".... Again, I just smiled and nodded. Haha!

These Endos want me to check my blood sugar twice a day, everyday and fax them the results after about 4 weeks. They also want me to get re-tested and follow up with them in April.

My plan: I'm going to check my blood sugar twice a day, everyday, until my appointment with the Endo from University of Chicago in a few weeks. This will hopefully give me and the U of C Endo more information about my daily sugars. I'm also going to schedule my next GTT as soon as possible (fingers crossed that I can get it at U of C on the day of my appts -- that's wishful thinking!). We'll see what my CF doctor and the Endocrinologist say in a few weeks...but I see this Accu Chek and I becoming close friends...

CFRD

11/30/12 - This was originally written on this date, but I wasn't sure if/when I wanted to share this on my blog - especially until I had more information. Look for the "follow up" story in the next day or so.

I saw this on Facebook and I just couldn't stop cracking up! 

Of course about a week later, I was told that I might be developing Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes (CFRD). But before I get ahead of myself, let me explain. For the past couple years, I've had to get Oral Glucose Tolerance Tests completed to see if I was developing CF Related Diabetes. Having CF makes me more likely to develop diabetes. And I don't think it's Type 1 or Type 2, which is why they've called it CFRD.

Anyway, I had my most recent GTT completed in the middle of November at a local hospital instead of going all the way out to Chicago to my CF clinic. I've been getting them done in the winter for the past couple years and I knew that I was due for one soon. Since my CF clinic appointment got pushed back til January, I figured I'd get my testing done before I went so that we could discuss the results at my CF appointment. The test goes like this: Fast for 8-12 hours, get my blood drawn/blood sugar checked, drink a nasty glucose drink (this time my flavor was Tropical Punch - more tolerable than the Orange), wait two hours - no eating or drinking those two hours, then get my blood drawn/blood sugar checked again.
My fasting blood sugar was 101 and I went and sat in the waiting room for two hours. Then she calls me back to take my 2 hour blood draw and when she tests it, she goes, "Woah, that's high." So I got a little concerned and asked, "What was it?" And she said, "Well, I'm not really supposed to tell you." How can you sit tehre and say out load 'woah, that's high' and expect me not to be curious?! So she looked around (I guess to make sure no one would hear her) and she said that it was 219 and it's supposed to be under 125 if I remember correctly?
So, she started asking me how I was feeling and was totally freaking me out. She told me that I couldn't leave yet because she wanted to check with a doctor to make sure I was okay to leave. I told her that I felt fine, and that I was just a little bit hungry. She looked at me and said, "Oh, you're hungry?" (Note to self: don't tell a really worried, uninformed phlebotomist that you're feeling ANYTHING, even just a little hungry.)  Anyway, she found the on-call doctor and explain my sugars to him and he said that I was fine to go. They were going to fax the results to my CF doctor and a nurse would call me tomorrow to discuss these results.

The next day a nurse called me and explained that I might be "hyperglycemic" because I have high blood sugars. She said they'll probably put me on Metformin (an oral pill), which is typically what they give patients with high blood sugar. But she wasn't completely sure because she didn't know how it would interact with all of my CF medications. I told her that I'd talk to my CF doctor about it and let her decide since she knows me and my CF much better.

A few days later my CF doctor called me and we talked about the results. She explained to me that I'm "not falling apart" and not to get worried. We kind of knew this was coming because the past couple glucose tests were borderline high. She said she wants to set me up with an appointment with an endocrinologist at the University of Chicago (where my CF clinic is) to discuss my results. She's said I'll most likely not go on the Metformin that the nurse suggested because since it's an oral medication, my body already has a hard time absorbing things, I'll most likely have to go on injections -- yikes!!! That totally freaked me out!! But she said we won't know anything for sure until I see the endocrinologist. I'm currently waiting for that appointment to be set up, which will either be the end of December or the same day in January that my CF appt is on. But my CF doctor explained that if/when I get my sugars under control, it can help with weight gain and lung function = bonus! It got me wondering if this sudden weight loss is possibly due to CFRD? Hmm...guess I'll find out in the next couple months....I hope.

Compliance, Doctors, Exercise & Great Strides

First of all I want to say how excited I am that I hit 200 days of compliance with my Vest and nebs yesterday!! Of course the past month or so there have been a couple days where I've only done one treatment in a day, but that was because of my little bought of hemoptysis which I'm happy to say has been gone for a while now. I'm still counting those days as being complaint because I was following doctors orders!

Today has been pretty eventful so far and it's only 3:15. I had the day off work today due a teacher institute day, so I've been taking full advantage of it. I woke up at my usual time of 5:45 today because I had two appointments this morning beginning at 7:45. I got my treatments done, finished my '30 days of blogging' post, got dressed and headed out the door. I had to be at the local hospital at 7:45 to begin my oral glucose tolerance test at 8am. This is a two hour test that tests for diabetes. Patients with CF have a higher chance of getting Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes, so my doctor wants me to get checked annually to make sure that I'm not developing CFRD. This is the second time I've had this test done and I'm really not a fan! I had to fast for 12 hours and if you read my post about irritating things, you'll know that you shouldn't mess with my food schedule. I couldn't eat breakfast this morning before the test, so I wasn't a happy camper, but I survived.

Just looking at this is making my stomach turn.

First they make you give a urine sample to make sure there's no sugars in you, then they take your blood and make you drink the most disgusting "orange" flavored glucose drink. (Every time I burp, I still taste that nasty stuff!) Then an hour later they take my blood to test my blood sugar, and then after another hour they take my blood one more time; so that's three pricks in three hours. The last time I had this test done, I think they had to poke me about 7 or 8 times because they kept missing my veins and I was not happy! This time, the lady was awesome and only had to stick me three times. They should be faxing the results to my doctor this afternoon and we'll discuss the results at my next clinic appointment in the beginning of March.

My second appointment this morning was to get a bone density (Dexa) scan. I've had this test done a couple times in the past also and it's to make sure that I am not developing Osteoporosis or the milder form called Osteopenia. I think it's kind of like an x-ray, but there's no vest or anything that I had to wear. I just had to lay down on the table and the machine scaned my legs/hips - very easy. A few years ago when I had it done, the results showed that I had Ostepenia so my doctors put me on 2 calcium + D vitamins a day. I had the test performed in December 2010 and it showed that I had normal bone density! I didn't get the official results from today's test yet, but I took a peek at the technician's screen and it showed a little mark in the green area, so I think my bones are still going strong!

After I left the hospital I met with Michelle from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation who is in charge of the DeKalb Great Strides walk this year. We talked about the progress being made about local sponsors, donations and how many people/teams are signed up so far! Looks like we're doing great so far with everyone signing up, but now it's time to focus on bringing in those donations and getting some companies to donate/sponsor us for the walk. I'm really excited about the progress we're making, but there's still a lot to be done. I'm planning on going around the town on Monday to a couple different businesses to see if I can get some more sponsors and donations. Oh, and for those of you on Colleen's Friends & Family, the t-shirts arrived today in the mail, so I'll be getting those to all of you shortly. :-)

And because all of that wasn't enough, I decided to take advantage of the above-average temperatures today (about 50 degrees) and go for a run outside. I ran/walked the Great Strides route which is about three miles. It was harder and much windier outside than I thought it was going to be, but it still felt really good to get outside to run. It was also nice to run outside because I was able to cough and spit while running (sorry to be gross, but it's true). When I run in the gym, if I cough and bring up something, I usually just have to swallow it because I don't want to gross out the other people there. Running outside was excellent airway clearance and I think because I was running against the wind at some points, my lungs worked even harder than on a treadmill. I'm still going to keep running at the gym, but I'm going to try to keep increasing my outside running time each week, until it's warm enough to always be outside, to get myself ready for my first 5K. I've found a 5K in a local town that I want to sign up for that's June 16th - so I've got about four months to get my butt in gear!